BOSTON — Just because a player comes off the injured list doesn’t mean his maintenance program stops.
The Red Sox were starting lefty Eduardo Rodriguez against the Yankees on Saturday at Fenway Park, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone nevertheless played the hot-hitting and lefty-swinging Mike Tauchman in left field instead of the right-handed hitting Cameron Maybin, who came off the IL on Friday night after missing 27 games with a strained left calf.
Tauchman, who entered Saturday’s 9-5 loss hitting .500 (20-for-40) in 13 July games, went hitless in four at-bats and was 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.
“With [Maybin] coming back and us bringing him back a little bit early and basically [playing] three games [two in the minors] in a row and running the bases a lot, I just felt like with a quasi-day game I felt it was best that, at least from the start today, down,’’ Boone said.
The original plan was for Maybin to finish a minor league assignment and rejoin the Yankees this coming Tuesday. When Brett Gardner’s sore left knee sent him to the IL, however, Maybin was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Maybin went 1-for-3 with an infield single and a walk in Friday night’s 10-5 loss. He also crashed into the Green Monster chasing a fly ball in the seventh inning, but said he didn’t reinjure the calf.
Gardner, who last played on July 20, returned to New York and received a cortisone shot.
“It is expected to be a short version of the 10-day [IL],’’ Boone said of Gardner.
When catcher Gary Sanchez went on the IL on Wednesday with a strained left groin Boone envisioned alternating Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka behind the plate for however long Sanchez is out.
Four games into the process, Boone had done just that, with each catcher starting two games. Higashioka caught CC Sabathia on Saturday and had a two-run single in the eighth inning, his only hit in four at-bats. Romine will likely catch Domingo German on Sunday night. Monday is dark, so Boone could stay with Romine or go back to Higashioka to work with J.A. Happ on Tuesday.
— Additional reporting by Dan Martin
